Researchers at the Penn State University have discovered that eating spicy food in comparison with bland food decreases the negative effects of eating high-fat foods by 30%.

Researchers revealed that consuming spice-rich food would reduce the levels of triglycerides which get increased with the intake of high-fat meal. Triglyceride is a type of fat which gets accumulated in the blood due to high- calorie food.

Sheila West, Associate Professor of Bio-Behavioral Health, who led the study said, “If this happens too frequently, or if triglyceride levels are raised too much, your risk of heart disease is increased. She further affirmed “We found that adding spices to a high-fat meal reduced triglyceride response by about 30 per cent, compared to a similar meal with no spices added”.

The method for the two-day test was: two meals were prepared for the participants. The age of volunteers was between 30 and 65, and they were obese but otherwise healthy. Researchers added two tablespoons of spices to the test meal serving of chicken curry, Italian herb bread and cinnamon biscuit. And, no spice was added to the identical control group.

In the next three hours, blood was drawn from the six participants and it was found participants who had the test meal had an increased antioxidant activity in the blood by 13% and insulin response decreased by almost 20%.